Father of Iraqi allegedly murdered by UK soldiers gives evidence to inquiry

Khazaal al-Helfi describes via videolink how army body bag containing his 19-year-old son Ahmed was ‘full of blood’ The father of an Iraqi allegedly murdered by British soldiers has told a public inquiry that when a doctor opened an army body bag containing his 19-year-old son he saw “blood pouring out of his chest”. His son Ahmed had “gunshots on the side of his stomach … his hand was broken [and] the bag was full of blood”, Khazaal al-Helfi told the inquiry on Monday into allegations that British troops murdered up to 20 unarmed prisoners and abused others following a fierce battle with Iraqi insurgents in May 2004. Helfi was the first Iraqi witness to give evidence by videolink from the British embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, to the al-Sweady inquiry, named after the family of another 19-year-old Iraqi allegedly killed by British troops following a fierce gunfight with Iraqi insurgents.